1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation device that is mounted on an automobile or the like and is capable of managing path information including a destination and locations on a path. In particular, the present invention relates to a navigation device that is used for cooperating with a portable terminal such as a cellular phone or a PDA.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, a navigation device is used for showing paths or roads to a user who is a car driver. When the user of the navigation device for a car designates one or more destinations (hereinafter, “destination” includes a location on a path since they have a similar meaning,) for setting path information, the user is usually required specific knowledge about the destination such as an address or a telephone number. If the user who is driving a car knows the destination well, it is not so difficult to do such setting in the car. However, there are many cases where the user has to set a location as a destination that is not familiar to the user because of the nature of the navigation device for a car. Therefore, in many cases, the user has to prepare information about a destination and take a memo of the information into a car. This is burdensome.
For this reason, it is proposed to utilize cooperation between a portable terminal such as a cellular phone or a PDA and the navigation device for a car so that schedule information or address information registered in a schedule (a schedule book) or an address list (an address book) of the portable terminal can be used for setting a destination or searching an optimal path by the navigation device for a car (see Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2002-107174).
According to the above-mentioned patent publication, the navigation device for a car can specify a destination position for setting the destination or the location on a path by using information that indicates a destination name such as a person's name or a location name listed in the schedule information of the portable terminal and information for specifying the destination position such as a location, a postcode (ZIP code), an address or a telephone number listed in the address book of the portable terminal, for example.
However, in order to set the destination or the like correctly by the above-mentioned method, the destination must be specified as a single one by the destination name such as a person's name or a location name. If there is a plurality of names that are the same in the address book, a plurality pieces of information that specifies the destination position may be obtained. In this case, the destination cannot be fixed. As a result, a desired result cannot be obtained, and the navigation device for a car cannot work properly. Furthermore, if the address book does not include information for specifying the destination position, a desired result cannot be obtained and the navigation device cannot work properly, either.
In addition, the conventional device such as the device described in the above-mentioned patent publication uses information of the portable terminal for setting a destination that is limited to an address list and a schedule book. Therefore, even if the portable terminal is provided with an additional service that is capable of setting a destination by cooperating with the navigation device for a car besides them, it is difficult to use the service.